The Girl Who Wore A Hat
by Nebelwand
Summary: "Midnight marks the beginning and ending of each day in civil time throughout the world. It is the dividing point between one day and another." -Wikipedia For Fred, it marks the end of his pining, and the beginning of his love story *Characters and places belong to J.K. Rowling*


It was raining and Fred Weasley found himself starring at the ceiling listening to the storm outside his window.  
It was midnight and everyone was asleep, at least should be asleep.  
And that's when he heard it.  
The wind outside carried a soft laugh up and into his window.  
A laugh he has only heard from afar, a laugh he wanted to be the cause of.  
Standing up and looking out from his window, Fred looked down and through the rain and saw a shape moving around. The longer he looked the clearer he could see and just as he thought he saw her, the girl with the purple hair and changing eyes, the girl with the beautiful smile, the girl he's fancied for years, the girl who always wore a hat.  
George had been teasing him nonstop about asking her out.

But could he?

She's two years younger than him,  
Best friends with the golden trio,

yet,

she's also a Slytherin.  
She's been over to his house for summer every year since she started school.  
So would she ever see him as more than her best friends older brother?

Well, there's one way to find out.

Over the years he's snuck out of the tower more times than he can remember, yet this time felt different. He jumped at every noise, thought every shadow meant he was caught, and convinced himself that by the time he got outside she would be gone. But when he finally made it out into the rain he could still hear her laughing, so he continued moving, trying to find her through the pouring rain.  
He was as nervous as a first year.

Maybe she didn't like him,

maybe she can't tell the difference between him and George,

maybe she likes someone else.  
But than he saw her. To him there was no one prettier in the world.  
She was dancing in the rain wearing a nightshade blue dress and her hat.

No shoes, no jacket, no umbrella, nothing. She was soaked to the bone yet she was smiling. When Fred got close enough to touch her she slipped and fell backwards,  
right into his arms, her knees sagged and she was breathing heavily, when she looked up and saw his face she smiled and Fred's breath caught in his throat, his heart was thundering a mile a second and that was when the wind came. It was sudden and unexpected and her hat went flying. But she didn't once look away from his blue eyes. For once she didn't chase after it.  
"Hello Fred."  
Two words and Fred could have sworn time had stopped. That the rain froze on its journey down and everything was so quiet it was deafening. The only thing that existed was the girl in his arms and the two simple words she had just said.  
He had planned to come out here and find out if she liked anyone, he was going to talk to her and maybe ask her out but instead he leaned down and softly placed a kiss on her lips before pulling back redder than his hair. He did it, he kissed her, and now he felt like an idiot. She hadn't moved, so he went to apologize but before he could even open his mouth she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his head back down until once again their lips met.

The kiss started off slow, both wanting to give the other a chance to back away, but neither wanted to, instead they wanted to get closer. One of his arms wrapped tighter around her waist while his other hand placed itself on the back of her head giving her support. The hand on the back of his neck threaded its way into his hair, while the other clutched the front of his shirt. The kiss went from slow and careful to deep and passionate. Tongues danced and hands pulled each other closer. Lips separated for mere seconds to allow oxygen to enter before once again meeting. It took a while, but finally the kiss slowed down, until once again they were just standing there, both breathing heavily and soaked to the skin.  
Carefully extracting herself from his arms she kissed his cheek before turning and walking away.  
Now or never Freddy.  
He lunged forward and gripped her arm, making her turn and raise an eyebrow at him.  
"Do you want to, I mean, would you, I mean, will you go out with me?"  
Fred has always loved her laugh but up until now he had never caused it.  
With a soft laugh she said  
"Yes"  
And once again turned and walked away.  
Fred on the other hand stayed outside a little longer.  
By the time he had gone back to Gryffindor tower it was 1 in the morning, and the rain had just begun to slow down. With a wave of his wand Fred dried his clothes than collapsed onto his bed and was asleep before he hit the pillow, his arm hung over the edge of the bed and clutched in his hand was a hat.

Her hat.


End file.
